Vermont residents’ anger over driving instructors using Held St, Marie St

Vermont residents have reached breaking point over alleged brash behaviour from driving instructors who are swarming their once quiet streets.

A Learner driver practising in Held St, Vermont on February 17, 2023. Picture: Kiel Egging.

A resident in a once quiet Vermont street has accused a driving instructor of telling them to “f*** off” after she complained to them about blocking her driveway.

The Department of Transport has confirmed it is investigating allegations of brash behaviour from multiple driving school instructors in Vermont’s Held and Marie streets, near VicRoads‘ Ringwood driver testing centre.

The two streets have become increasingly flooded with learner drivers practising day and night since VicRoads opened the centre on Heatherdale Rd in Ringwood in April.

The centre operates from 8.30pm-4.30pm Monday-Friday, however residents have told Leader driving schools are using their streets outside these hours, with activity surging on weekends.

VicRoads new license testing centre on Heatherdale Rd has led to driving schools flooding once-quiet Vermont streets, drawing anger from residents. File picture.

Leader revealed concerns from Marie St residents a month after the centre opened, with resident Michael McMahon saying the amount of cars in the street per day had increased from 10 to up to 150.

Fed-up residents presented a petition to Whitehorse Council at its February 17 meeting, urging the council to make the streets ’local traffic only’ zones to deter instructors.

Jacqui Zimmerman, whose home is located on the corner of Held and Andrew streets, told the gallery the local traffic and attitudes of instructors had reached breaking point.

A Learner driver pulls out of Marie St in Vermont on February 17, 2023. Picture: Kiel Egging.

She said one instructor told her to “f*** off” while using her driveway on January 30, and on another occasion, another female instructor told her to “take a pill” when she complained about being blocked in.

Ms Zimmerman claimed the instructor told her: “We can do what we like in this street, it’s the law and you will not stop us”.

“This is the attitude we are having to deal with on a daily basis,” Ms Zimmerman said at the meeting.

“Tonight when I left my home, there were four separate driving schools in Held St, and one packed across my drive so I couldn’t even leave my garage so I could come to this meeting tonight.”

Councillors unanimously agreed to forward the petition to town planners for consideration, with Cr Denise Massoud saying it was “totally unreasonable” and “not on” for residents to be blocked into their homes.

Held St residents John and Belinda, who didn’t give their surnames, said they had seen up to five instructors using their street at any given time and activity surged on weekends.

“They (instructors) are not really respectful of the fact it's a residential street,” Belinda said.

“The kids used to play footy and cricket in the street … but ever since VicRoads opened, it’s a constant flow of learner traffic up and down, it’s non-stop.

“The advantage of living here was it was a real quiet street and we want it back to the way it was.”

A Department of Transport spokesman said they were aware of the alleged behaviour by instructors and were investigating the claims.

According to the department, driving instructors are encouraged not to focus their lessons on VicRoads drive test routes, and use a variety of locations and driving environments to reduce the impact for local residents and ensure their students gain experience in a wide variety of settings.